


The Final Goodbye Job

by Sabishiioni



Category: Leverage
Genre: Gen, angsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-05
Updated: 2015-05-05
Packaged: 2018-03-29 04:04:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3881587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sabishiioni/pseuds/Sabishiioni
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The team mourns one of their own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Final Goodbye Job

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Leverage  
> Warnings: Read them, including the ones in bold  
> Follow Me (My Personal Blog): [Tumblr](http://sabishiioni.tumblr.com/)  
> Follow PI (My Writing Blog): [Tumblr](http://projectinsanitywriting.tumblr.com/)  
> Mindless Babble: Being new to posting in this fandom, I thought I should start out short and sweet. I wrote this instead of finishing "Secrets", so please don't tell the Musketeer fandom, okay? Oh and there is a cameo by a character from another one of my favorite shows. Cyber cookie to who ever gets it.

“This isn’t fair.”

“I know it’s not, darling.” Eliot looked at Parker and saw the tears streaming down her face. It tore his heart out to see her like this. If only there was something he could hit to make her feel better…

“I didn’t even really get to tell him how I felt about him.” The thief sniffled a little, playing with a rope attached to her harness. “Now…I won’t ever get the chance.”

“I know he knew. How could he not, with all the little things you did?” The hitter tried to smile but it was hard when his thief’s heart was shattering before his eyes. He wanted to reach out to her, wrap his arms around her and brush away the tears that just looked wrong on her porcelain features. 

Parker stood up and checked her ropes and harness. It brought a smile to Eliot’s lips and relaxed the young woman’s features. This was how she coped and, though the man always feared for her, it was the only way for her to regain her own footing in a world suddenly turned upside down by the death of a teammate. A member of her family.

She stepped off the edge of the building as Eliot watched. He shook his head. “Twenty pounds of crazy…”  
***

Eliot stood next to Sophie as the client seated herself at the table across from the grifter. Allison Sabbit’s husband had been severally injured with a loan shark had shown up to collect his debt early. The team had easily exposed the loan shark and taken every cent he had. They were in the process of returning the money to the people he had charged with his outrageous interest rates.

Sophie smiled at their client and Eliot felt his heart swell with pride. This woman was truly the best in her profession, hiding her grief behind a mask of happiness at a job well done. Even her hair and makeup were perfect, giving no hint that she had spent the entire night mourning. 

“Hello, Allison. I heard that Keith is getting out of the hospital tomorrow.”

The strawberry blond smiled sadly and nodded. “Yes. It will be good to have him home. Bobby has been asking for his daddy and our dog just lays by the door waiting for him.”

Sophie gave the other woman an honest smile, even chuckling at the description. She held out an envelope. “Well this should help with the bills and know that Mr. Ibek will never bother your family again. Or any family for that matter.”

Allison opened the envelope and her eyes bulged. “This…this is…”

Eliot loved this part, seeing the victim realized that things really were going to be alright. He only wished that the same could be said of the team.

“Consider it a gift from Ibek.” The check inside the envelope had at least six digits. “Making up for the pain your family has suffered.”

Allison beamed. “Is…is there any way I can thank Mr. Ford? He was the one who found us…”

At that, Sophie’s eyes dropped and even Elliot looked away. “We lost…there was a death…”

The joy vanished from the other woman’s expression. “Oh my god! I’m so sorry! It was my fault-“

“No!” Sophie cut her off. “We all go into these jobs knowing the risks. We just…sometimes we forget that even when we think we’re safe, we’re not. If it hadn’t been this job, it could have been the next.”

Allison lowered her eyes. “You…you have my deepest sympathies. I saw how much you all seemed to care about each other.”

“We still do,” Elliot mumbled.

“He left this world doing what he loved- helping people. I take comfort in that. I hope it will help you as well.”

Allison’s lips lifted slightly at the edges as she stood. “Thank you…thank you so much for your sacrifice.”

Sophie almost managed to appear calm and collected but Eliot could see the cracks in the mask. There were some things that even the world’s greatest actress couldn’t hide.  
***

Nate sat at his desk, staring at the bottle of whiskey that taunted him. It didn’t feel right to drink whiskey in memory of the man lost to them. To him. He thought another beverage would be more appropriate but he just couldn’t stomach the thought of actually drinking it.

He poured a shot of the golden liquid, but left it on the desk. He thought about how nervous his team got when he fell back on alcohol. He thought about the numb oblivion he could drop into with enough whiskey. He thought about it…

He picked up the shot glass and dumped the contents down the drain in the bathroom sink. He wouldn’t have wanted him to let the darkness take him. What he would have wished was for Nate to mourn and move on. There were still people to help out there. They needed him. His team needed him…what was left of it, at least.

Picking up a file, Nate tried to read it. It was only after he realized that he had read the same paragraph four times and still didn’t know what it said, that the mastermind understood he couldn’t move on until he allowed himself to grieve.

Standing, he walked into the pub, letting the familiarity of it sooth his frayed nerves. The smell of food, the low hum of chatter, the warmth of friends and family coming together. It was like a balm to his battered soul.

He never noticed the blue grey eyes watching his every move, just as they always did. He missed the pride in them as he dumped the liquor out, and the happiness when Nate moved to sit with the humanity he fought so hard to save. But it was okay.

Nate was still unbroken and that was all that mattered.  
***

Hardison knelt at the grave staring at the simple marble marker. The funeral had been the day before and the grave was still covered in flowers. There were so many, Hardison had to wonder if he knew how many people were now mourning his death. His fingers traced the name engraved in the black and white stone.

Eliot Spencer  
Friend, Brother, Protector

“Man! Why did you have to leave us like that?!” The hacker choked out, tears running down his cheeks.

“I’m sorry, Hardison. I had to. There was no choice…”

 

_“Go! Go!”_

 _Hardison risked a glance backwards from where he was racing after Nate, Sophie and Parker. It turned out that Ibek had a few paramilitary friends and they were not happy at having their boss arrested. The only thing that stood between them and the team was Eliot._

_“Damnit Hardison! Move it!”_

_“But what about you?”_

_“I’ll catch up!” Eliot growled, shifting into a position to fight. “Now go!”_

 

“But you never did catch up, did you?” Hardison wiped his cheeks in a futile attempt to dry them. “We…we came back for you…found you in a puddle of your blood…brought you home…”

“I appreciate that. More than you’ll ever know.” Eliot knelt in front of the only man he would ever be willing to call his best friend, the slight breeze not even ruffling his transparent hair. He reached out, miming cupping the dark cheek. “And I sure as hell gonna miss you and Parker and Sophie and even Nate. But you need to let me go.”

“I miss you so damn much, Eliot!” Hardison bowed his head, watching the blurry flower petals dance in the light wind blowing across the cemetery. “I know you always thought of yerself as a monster fer all the people you hurt, but I really wonder if…if you realized how many people you helped? I know I did-I made a list. I was gonna show it ta ya the next time you went into one o’ yer dark, broody moods.”

“Damnit Hardison! I never brooded!” Still, a small smile appeared on translucent lips. “You really did that for me?”

Long, slender fingers pulled a rolled up stack of papers, tied with a red silk ribbon. He gently laid it on the ground, just under the headstone. He stared at it for a moment before running his hands over his eyes and standing up.

“You helped a lot of people, so I figure I gotta help just as many so when I see you again, you can be proud o’me! So…goodbye for now. And wish me luck! Having Parker with me, I’ll need all the help I can get!”

Eliot watched as the man turned and walked away from the grave. “I’ve always been proud o’ ya.”

“You ready to go?”

He turned to find a beautiful woman standing at a plain wooden door. Her chocolate skin contrasted with the grey sweater she wore. Black, curly hair framed a face so innocent, Eliot was reminded of Parker. She smiled at him.

“What’s on the other side of that?” Eliot asked.

The woman shrugged. “I don’t know. Everyone is different.” She saw the fear creeping into his features. “But…since I’m here to guide you, I doubt it’s anything bad.”

She held out her hand and he took it. Together, they opened the door walked into the light.


End file.
